


Elation Is A Rare Sensation: Not (de)Ceased.

by arfrid



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Upside Down, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Gen, Past Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, The Party needs a hug, The monster hunting trio needs a hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:55:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25725484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arfrid/pseuds/arfrid
Summary: 8 years ago, five children went missing, eventually being declared dead.In present day, Nancy Wheeler is over the loss of her brother when a mysterious graffiti appears and she sees her oppurtunity to become a journalist. However, she gets more than she bargained for.The teenagers band together to figure out that not everything is as normal as they might think.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove & Nancy Wheeler, Billy Hargrove & Steve Harrington, Jonathan Byers & Steve Harrington, Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington & Nancy Wheeler
Comments: 8
Kudos: 14





	1. Prologue

**CHAPTER 1**  
  
_Prologue_

Billy Hargrove’s alarm clock played ‘Every Breath You Take – Rock Cover’.

He groaned, feeling around for it, only for him to realize that he had put it under his bed yesterday while he was drunk. He groaned harder and sat up, reaching under the bed. He found it and turned it off.

_I’m already up,_ he thought. He rubbed his eyes and put some bread in his toaster, having to hit it to make it work. His rented apartment wasn’t exactly a five-star hotel, with some mold spots and the occasional rat or two, but it was the most he could afford, and he couldn’t afford to complain.

As he went to get a coke, he thought that today felt weird. Like something special happened today.

He got the coke out of the fridge and opened it, looking outside the window. He was glad to have found a place near the ocean in the drab town. Honestly, it reminded him of home.

He shook his head, telling himself to stop being a sap, but he couldn’t help himself. He was homesick.

He walked into the little bathroom of his and brushed his teeth.

After taming his bedhead, he walked into his room.

_There’s something I’m missing,_ he thought looking around. _Why does today feel so special?_

Then he lay his eye on the picture on his bedside table and the realization smacked him across the face.

It was Max’s birthday.

She’d be thirteen by now. God damnit, how the hell did he forget?!

He sat on the bed, the bed groaning slightly from the use over the years. He picked up the photograph of him and 5-year-old Maxine, the last happy picture they took together. Max was smiling, making a silly face. Billy had his tongue stuck out at the camera.

He longed to hear her voice again, even if it was just a simple _“Hi, Billy!”_ , he needed it.

_Tough guys don’t cry,_ his dad had once told him. Now he was saying it to himself.

“Tough guys don’t cry.” He told himself, feeling desperate tears collecting in his eyes. “Tough guys don’t cry. Tough guys…”

The waterworks started, and clung to the picture as tears started freely falling down his face. He thought of all the fun times he had spent with her, and that just made him sadder, making more tears run down his face.

He forced himself to look up at the picture without crying. He looked into Max’s eyes and whispered hoarsely, _“I’m sorry, Maxie…”_

The toasted bread popped up.

Meanwhile, a redheaded girl was lacing her black army boots. She looked around at her friends, who were either putting their bulletproof vest and hoodie, or packing their backpacks.

She grabbed her water and put it in her backpack. Once they were all ready, they stood in a line.

A man that she recognized instantly stepped in front of them, smiling coldly at them.

“Well done, children.” Papa told them. “Your training is complete. Now it is time for the big event.”


	2. Newsflash! Tom Holloway is a sexist asshole.

**CHAPTER TWO**

**  
** _Newsflash! Tom Holloway is a sexist asshole._   
  


“Shit, shit!” She cursed under her breath as she hurriedly put her shoes on. She was going to be late to her job interview at the Daily Bugle. She had made some quality headline examples with actual leads, but they just laughed last time, saying she needed an actual _good_ story.

Once she was dressed, she ran down the stairs three at a time. She grabbed a piece of toast of the table, before kissing her mother goodbye and stuffing it in her mouth.

“Nancy!” She heard her mother yell, but she didn’t stop. She ran outside and into Jonathan’s car. Jonathan glanced at her and sighed. He was about to say something but Nancy put her hand up.

“Jonathan, could you give me a lecture later? I really need to get to that interview.” It was more of a demand than a question, but it still shut him up. He started driving, going slightly faster.

Her anxiousness must have showed because Jonathan put one comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Nance, you’re going to rock this interview, just calm down–” He tries to be reassuring, but it just sounds weak. Nancy groans as she struggles to tame a fairly fierce knot. She gives Jonathan a look™ and he quiets down.

Before Nancy runs out the car, she gives her boyfriend a quick kiss on the cheek. He flushes in acknowledgement and smiles. She isn’t there to see his smile, however, as she runs in and knocks on Tom Holloway’s door.

“Come in.” he says. She walks in.

“I am so sorry for being late and disturbing you. I woke up late, because–” She tells him.

“I don’t care, you are 10 minutes and 18 seconds late, Ms. Drew.” He tells her. Nancy suppresses her urge to yell at him for calling her that. “Now, you want to be a journalist, right? Well, let’s see what stories you’ve got.”

Nancy pulled an old-looking newspaper out her bag and lay it on his desk. He looked at it skeptically.

“What do you want me to do with this piece of junk?” He asked incredulously.

“It’s not junk, it’s just old…” She mumbled, then she said, “Mr. Holloway, I found this old story on this organization, and it has so many fascinating leads that I think people will actually really like it. If you could get an investigator or detective or something, then maybe you could uncover the whole story. Or it could be a mystery!”

She looked at Tom excitedly, but her smile dropped when he looked at her irritated.

“This story won’t sell at all. It’s no use to me.” He tells her, leaning back and putting his feet on the desk. Nancy feels like someone punched her in the gut.

“But, sir, I think this has real potential!” She argues. He looks around, takes his feet off the table and leans forward.

“I’ll give you a bit of advice.” He starts with a whisper. Nancy leans in curiously and excitedly. “Give up trying to become a journalist when it’s not meant to be. Do something useful, like a maid or a secretary.”

Nancy is about to argue, but Tom just looks back at his book and says patronizingly, “Do yourself a favor, kid. Go shine some shoes. Next!”

She gets up and leaves angrily, holding back tears because she knows it won’t do her any good. She walks outside and into Jonathan’s car.

He catches her angry and pained face and asks what happened. Nancy wiped a few of her tears away and takes a few deep breaths.

“Tom Holloway, that’s what happened.” She replies. “Being a sexist piece of shit.”

Jonathan groans and puts his arms around her comfortingly. “If I was braver–”

“You are brave!”

Jonathan gives her a skeptical look and continues. “If I was braver, I’d walk right in there and say “Don’t say that to my girlfriend” and kick his balls or something like that.”

Nancy gives a dry laugh and leans against his chest.

“I just wish I could make my own newspaper or something. That way, I’d be able to hire or fire any sexist assholes.” Jonathan smiles at her. “Wait…”

Her eyebrows furrowed as she thought, then her eyes widened. “He wants modern things!”

“What? Who?”

“Tom Holloway.” They break the embrace and Nancy turns to look at Jonathan. “That’s why he turned down my story. If he wants a good modern story, he’s gonna get one. Drive to my place, Jonathan.”

Jonathan started driving through Central Park, but they saw a crowd of people at Lover’s Stride Alley (L. S., for short). Jonathan hit the brakes.

“What the…” Jonathan muttered. L. S. Alley was never that busy. In fact, not many people knew about it, so many couples went there on dates, earning it the title of “Lover’s Stride”. There were photographers and even a few news reporters. They opened the doors and stepped outside. Nancy stayed behind while Jonathan walked forwards into the crowd.

Nancy thought she heard a picture snap (at least, she thought it was a picture snap, it was hard to tell with all the noise and reporters), before Jonathan walked out with his camera aloft.

He showed her the picture. It was a graffiti on the wall of the Alley, saying random letters that she didn’t understand;

“NSQR? What’s that?” She asked. Jonathan shrugged, putting his camera back in his pocket. Nancy’s journalist brain spouted thoughts and theories. Then she hit a realization. “A story! This’ll be all over the internet, so if I get a lead and start investigating, maybe I can get the job!”

Jonathan cleared his throat. “Don’t you mean, ‘if _we_ get a lead’?”

Nancy blushed of embarrassment, but nodded. “Yeah. Sorry.”

They stepped back inside the car and sat inside, the engine revving. Jonathan hit the horn and people rushed out the way.

“Let’s do this.”


	3. One of them is revealed

**CHAPTER THREE**

_One of them is revealed_

The next graffiti message happened pretty soon after the first.

It happened in Knockdown Square, a nice park for particularly young kids (or drunk college students, choose your pick) to play. It was the exact same message: NSQR, with a dot in the middle of the Q.

Like last time, there were no hints of anything or anyone having been there _apart_ from the graffiti. The police had identified the spray paint as “Hawkins Spray Paintin’ Hatin’ Can!”, so a few officers were dispatched to check the Hawkins that was a few hours away, hoping to find a hint of a gang or something like that, but there was no such luck.

Nancy seems to be running low on leads _and_ hope.

Jonathan _tries_ to more hopeful, pointing things out, hoping to encourage her.

“Are there any similarities between these L.S and Knockdown?”

“None. Apart from one minor fight that happened in both of them with the same people, there’s nothing.”

“Have you tried looking at the people in the fight.”

“Yep.”

“And?”

Nancy glares at the air like it did something to offend her. “Nothing! I’ve found _nothing_. We would need to look into government files and crap to find the _real_ deal.”

“Why don’t we just ask them?” Jonathan asked simply. Nancy gave him the Supreme Wheeler Look™ that always made him feel tingly.

“That’d be a nice visit. ‘Oh, hello Government Officials, can we _please_ look inside the files that contain incriminating evidence’? How sketchy is _that_?” Jonathan sighs, knowing she’s right. She groans and facepalms into the table. “Why did I have to choose the hardest case yet? I should have just gone for the funny bunny conspiracy theory.”

“No, you shouldn’t have.” Came a voice from the door. It unlocks and in walks Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington. Nancy looks at him curiously while Jonathan looks at him incredulously. “You need Government files and crap? I’m your man. I figured you’d be on the case and told my dad that if he didn’t do something to help it would hurt his reputation, so he let me access files to give to the best journalist or detective I know.”

Jonathan gives him a skeptical look, and Steve clears his throat. “Maybe not those exact words, but that’s what _I_ heard, anyway.”

Nancy runs towards him and envelops him in a hug. Jonathan can’t help but be jealous, but he doesn’t say anything and walks forward to greet him.

Steve hands Nancy the file and her eyes light up.

“Steve, this is like, the _official_ file.” She was in awe. Steve smiles at her, but there’s something unhappy about it. Something distant. As Nancy goes towards her desk and flips through the pages, Jonathan goes next to Steve.

“How did you do that?” He asks, still slightly jealous but also in awe. Steve shrugged, like he didn’t really know how it happened.

“Being born in a rich family helps you pull a few strings.” Steve tells him. They silently watch Nancy as she flips page after page.

“A _ha_!” Nancy exclaims, startling them both. They both come over and read a paragraph she’s pointing at.

** In 1984, a criminal gang started without a name. The crimes were not major. It did not become a problem until the fifth of September, 1985. The right side of The White House was graffitied, messaging a quote that mayors still have nightmares about: “You don’t notice us until we become your problem.” **

**** There has been no such instance since then, but we shall remain vigilant.  
  


“So, this is a criminal gang, and they’re trying to graffiti stuff?” Steve asks, not getting it, and Jonathan didn’t want to admit it, but he didn’t either.

“Yes, but now they’ve got a name. NSQR. All the alarms are going off in the higher up’s heads.” Nancy explains.

“But they haven’t done anything wrong this time, only a bit of graffiti here and there.” Jonathan reasons, confused.

“Guys.” Steve calls. 

“But they’re—”

“Guys!” Steve yells. Jonathan and Nancy turn their attention to him. Steve points at the TV. It says that there’s been a murder, the murder of a powerful politician named Michael Garby, and NSQR written on the wall in blood.

Nancy gulps as Jonathan realizes what NSQR is trying to do.

“They’re trying to attract the attention of the higher ups.”

“Right, so let me get this straight.” Steve tells them as Nancy hands Jonathan a walkie-talkie. “We, as in, the three of us, are each going to a possible place where a gang of murderers might show up so that we can catch them, _adults_ , while we’re just _teenagers_.”

“Yep, sounds about right.” Nancy says confidently, strapping a comm device to her belt that’s hidden under her light purple-pink pastel cardigan.

“A-All right. Just checking.” He reassures them. Jonathan chuckles nervously. _Is he really about to do this? Why not just let the authorities handle it?_

“Because of that quote we saw from before.” Nancy tells him, and Jonathan realizes he must have said it out loud. ““You never notice us until we become your problem”. That’s the thing. They want to be hidden, but also want to show the authorities they mean business. “

Jonathan’s mouth forms a comical _O_ before he quickly nods. Nancy giggles a cute little giggle, before testing the comm.

Nancy wonders around Central Park at night. There’s no-one there, so she just sits on her phone and scrolls through her Twitter feed, but not really looking at it. She half in her own little world and half listening to the space around her.

Two hours pass, and Nancy doesn’t think they’re coming. Then she hears the sound of multiple footsteps and she looks up to see a group of short people in black hoodies. She’s so stunned by what she’s seeing (the gang + the shortness of said gang) that she doesn’t see the tallest one that’s not even her height bring out a lighter and near it to the main tree until it’s too late.

“Stop!” She finds herself screaming. The faces whip around to her, but the fire is already big enough to silhouette them, and she doesn’t see their faces. She runs towards the nearest one – A seemingly redheaded girl(woman?) – and immediately gets thrown to the ground and the girl stomps on her forearm. She cries out in pain. She has a gut feeling that she shouldn’t move, so she doesn’t.

“Can we kill her?” the one who threw her asks.

“No. She’s innocent. Papa said not kill innocents.” The tallest boy tells the girl. His voice sounds like someone she’s heard before, only deeper. In fact, so does the girl’s, though less familiar. She can’t pinpoint who it is though.

“Papa kills people.” The girl argues.

“He has authority. As soon as we get authority, she dies.” The boy explains. The girl seemed to accept this answer and walked away. She heard them start leaving, so she panicked, and got up, trying not to use her left arm.

“Stop!” She cried out at them. Only the boy stopped. He looked at her, and she could see his face clearly; he was young, and couldn’t be older than 13 or so. He had black curls and a few freckles, with brown eyes that shimmered with coldness and loneliness.

Nancy felt her heart plummet to the darkest depths of the earth. Her eyes must be deceiving her. That couldn’t be him. He was gone. He _is_ gone.

“No.” He says simply, before running off after the others.

She hears the sound of cars approaching, and in the corner of her eye she sees a firetruck.

She only has one coherent thought before she passes out:

_Mike._


	4. Nancy is depressed but also angry.

**CHAPTER FOUR**

_Nancy is depressed but also angry_

The doctors said that her arm wasn’t broken, just bruised. Still, they put it in a sling just to be on the safe side. The moment she came out of the Doctor’s office and into the waiting room, Steve and Jonathan run up to her and bombard her with questions. First, if she was okay, second, if her _arm_ , was okay, and third, if she saw who it was.

“Yes, but I can’t tell you here.” She whispers. Jonathan and Steve look at her confusedly.

“Wasn’t the plan to figure out who it was, _then_ go tell the police?” Steve asks, gesturing at a security guard, who was trying to hit on the registration woman, but at the same time was also trying to talk seriously.

“Change of plans. We go to Jonathan’s place–”

“Why mine?” Jonathan argues.

“Yeah, why his? Mine has a secret cellar and shit.”

Nancy sighed at them. “Steve, don’t you think that it’ll be kind of obvious to hide information there? Besides, the Byers house is in a kind of secluded area. Also, Jonathan, do you still have William’s number?”

Jonathan looked startled at the question. “Yeah, why?”

“He needs to know about this.”

Billy was lying on the sofa considering either having a nap or drinking his guilt away when his mobile phone rang. He looked who it was.

_Nancy Wheeler._

One of Max’s friend’s siblings that he sometimes talked to but now he doesn’t? What the hell does she want? Did she even _give_ him her number?

He hits decline. He doesn’t want to talk to anyone while he was already in a bad mood.

The bitch calls again. He hits decline.

Then she messages him. He groans. He _really_ needs an alcoholic drink. He grabs his phone and texts: **“Go away, I’m trying to sleep here god damnit.”**

He left it at that and started to leave, ignoring the notifications. A drink later, and the notifications _still_ didn’t stop. He couldn’t stand the notifications anymore and walked towards his phone to put it on _DO NOT DISTURB._

Then he saw the texts she was sending.

**“Mike.”**

**“Dustin.”**

**“Will.”**

**“Lucas.”**

**_“Bitch what??”_ **

**“Max.”**

**“We’ve found her.”**

Billy’s heart stopped. He almost dropped the phone. He was trying to find his anger somewhere, but instead, there was… Hope. For the first time in a long time he felt hopeful.

**_“Not funny, Wheeler.”_ **

**“Not joking. Meet us at the Treaty Square 10 mins from your place ASAP.”**

**_“If this is a fucking joke, Wheeler, I will run you over with my car.”_ **

**“If I was joking, I would be scared of that threat. But I would NEVER swoop low enough to joke around with that topic.”**

For some reason, he believed them.

He told himself that Max is gone, that Max is _dead_ , but… He couldn’t help himself getting dressed and walking towards Treaty Square. He put on his old black adidas shoes (that only barely fit him), a leather jacket and dark blue jeans.

After making sure that his hair was nicely combed, he walked towards the Square.

Steve Harrington and that stupid loner Byers kid was there along with Nancy. _I swear, if they’re in on a joke…_

But something told him that they were sincere. That they knew where Max was.

“Well, well, well. Harrington,” He looked at Steve, who nodded in acknowledgement, “Byers,” He looked at that boy, Charlie, John, Mark, whatever his name was. The boy cleared his throat in acknowledgement and embarrassment. “And Wheeler.” His eyes drifted to the petite girl in front of him. She regarded him with warm but calculating eyes, like she was trying to remember him.

He doesn’t blame her; he doesn’t remember them either, since they were only nine years old. They were all 18 years old now, except maybe Nancy, who might have been younger.

“I must say, I didn’t see you three as being in a polyamorous relationship. But I don’t judge.” He teases. Jonathan flushes, Steve flips him off and Nancy stands her ground, not winning a single reaction. “Where’s my sister.”

Jonathan and Steve give him surprised reactions. Nancy looks around warily.

“Come on, it’s not safe to say it here.” She whispers.

Billy leans in and whispers “Okay” in a mocking tone.

Nancy narrows her eyes slightly before they start heading towards Wheeler’s van. Billy narrows his eyes, and his mechanic brain scans it for how it could be repaired; the tire could probably use some pumping up or even a replacement and the windows were dusty. Other than that, the vehicle didn’t seem too bad.

They all sat in the back of the van, with Nancy clearing her throat.

“I saw Mike.” She tells them. The response is instantaneous: Billy frowns as he tries to remember which kid Mike was, Steve’s pupils dilate as his eyes widen and Jonathan splutters “What?! Where? When?”

“Okay, I – Be quiet Jonathan – I saw him during the fire. _He lit it_ on fire.” She tells them with a mixture disbelief, fear and sadness. It sounds genuine enough for no-one to even _mentally_ address her as crazy. Everyone’s quiet as the statement sinks in.

“And Max?” Billy asks softly. His heart is hammering as he tries to comprehend what this could mean.

“She have red hair?” She asks him. He looks up, hopeful, and nods. “Yeah. I met her. She… Almost broke my arm.” She gestured to the sling.

“And Will?”

“And Dustin? Lucas?”

“I don’t know. I’d assume it was them, but they were all wearing black hoodies, so I couldn’t tell who they were. But I’m _sure_ Max and Mike are in on it.” Nancy tells them. Billy’s mind thinks of 100 things this could possibly mean, but Steve addresses the one that’s on the forefront of his mind.

“What happened to them?”


	5. Harsh Treatment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> one of my lazier ones :P

**  
CHAPTER FIVE**

_Harsh Treatment_   
  


_“Yah! Ah! Hi… Yah!” Mike lets out a yell each time he hits the dummies that approach him. “Take this you bad guy!”_

_Once he’s finished, with about 12 dummies on hard mode broken on the floor, his fists are bloody from punching the dummies so hard. His white shirt drenched in sweat as he fell down on his knees, breathing hard._

_Papa was glaring at him on the other side of the glass. He must have done something he didn’t like, something wrong–_

_A dummy punched him in the back, sending flying into the white wall._

_As Mike lets out a yell of pain, he hears Papa tsk in disapproval. He sees the door fly open and two men come in. They’re both holding long metal rods with electricity crackling off the end._

_“No!” He shouts, and he runs around the room at a high speed. He observes his surroundings as Papa taught him. One of them raises the metal rod and Mike’s eyes widen as he sees an opening. He slides under the man's legs, jumps on his back and grabs the metal rod, making the man stab himself with electricity. He snatches the weapon and looks at the other man, who now looks a bit more nervous._

_Then he hears a shout – a boy’s shout, the one who he cares so deeply about – and stupidly turns towards the sound of the shout and…_

_He screams as loud as he can, feeling electricity arch up and down his body. The pain leaves, but only for a second, because he hears a voice say: “Again.”_

_He screams, writhing on his back now. He looks at the door to see it open and P… Papa… He was just standing there, like he was merely a small inconvenience in the great scheme of things._

_The pain stops. Papa walks to his side and kneels down, not giving any physical support at all._

_“I want you to recognize, One, that everything I do is for_ you _. I’m making you stronger. More invulnerable. More immune. Do you know what immune means?” Papa asks him. One wants to nod, to say that he’s not stupid, that of course he knows what it means – but he can’t move. He just takes a shaky breath._

_“It means things like pain is meaningless for you. It means that you can keep on going, without taking a break, without needing anyone.” One wants to tell him that that’s not what it means, but Papa just gives him a cold smile._

_“Let’s try again now, shall we?”_

One wakes up in a cold sweat. He looks around at the bunkbeds and saw everyone else was asleep – sweating, granted – but perfectly asleep. Except for one.

He walks out and into the perfectly pristine kitchen of their huge campervan. They had all the necessities for the human body. Nutrients, proteins, everything, but the only thing they really liked eating was the fruits. They had flavor, something they never had back at home.

So, One grabs an apple and cleans it quickly with his sleeve before taking a generous bite. He groans in satisfaction at the marvelous taste, then walks outside on their little balcony (that was guarded by big men) and sure enough, there was his curly-haired friend. Four glances at him before showing a round thing marked with the letters N – E – S – W on it, with arrows pointing at each one.

“Papa gave it to me before we travelled.” Four tells him with a smile. One smiles, too. He liked it when Four smiled. Before, his teeth apparently weren’t developed enough, so he had to deal with his baby teeth, but they had loved his goofy smile, and now they adored it even more.

“What is it?” One asks curiously.

“Papa said it’s called a compai… comp… co...” He stutters, trying to pronounce it correctly. He heard only heard it once before.

“Compass.” The guard, Keith, helpfully adds from below them.

“Compass!” Four tells him. Keith rolls his eyes as One laughs at Four’s funny antics. Four looks out at the stars and sky.

“Do you think we’ll ever be able to live by ourselves?” Four asks him. One ponders the question before answering.

“I don’t see why we would… need to?” he replies confusedly. “Papa helps us. Papa’s nice.” Four gave him a look, one that simply read _Really?_ And One knew that his friend was right. Papa didn’t treat them right.

But he was the only family they had.

They didn’t share any more words until the sun came up that morning.


	6. Nancy, Steve, Billy and Jonathan kidnap a preteen boy

**CHAPTER SIX**

_Nancy, Steve, Billy and Jonathan kidnap a preteen boy_

The teenagers all crowd around the table in the living room of the Byers house, discussing. Joyce has been out of the house for the past 2 days because she needed to go to that town that was 8 hours away.

“So, we have to get them, but not hurt them? Is that what you’re saying?” Steve asks Nancy. She nods, then points at a part of the map of their town.

“This is where I think they’ll be going next. Two of us will go, and two of us will be nearby just in case something happens _or_ nothing happens. Who wants to go the place where they’ll be?” Nancy asks the group.

“Not it!” Steve and Jonathan say simultaneously. Billy and Nancy look at each other and shrug with a clear message: _I don’t mind hanging out with you._

Nancy turns to Steve and Jonathan. “You two will be nearby, just a few blocks away, alright?”

Steve shrugs, putting his hands on his hips, while Jonathan crosses his arms, trying to seem tough.

“Alright, let’s go!” Billy claps, hyping up the mission.

Billy would say it was going well.

The plan was that Nancy and him would walk into the hotel bar, reminiscing as old friends do, while Jonathan and Steve would hang out a few blocks away, having a seemingly civil conversation.

While they waited in line to order a quick drink, Nancy asks him something.

“What do you remember about the kids?” She says, looking at the puddings to make it seem to others that she had simply asked if he wanted anything to eat. He looked at them and shook his head.

“Not much, only a few things. That they were all boys, one had a disease or something–”

“Cleidocranial Dysplasia.” Nancy corrects. Billy stares at her. “Sorry it’s just – after being Steve’s boyfriend for about 3 months and being the sibling of the friend of the, uh, his younger brother, you learn more about the kid in question.”

Billy nods in understanding, looking outside the window. “Shit, Wheeler. We’ve got company.”

Short people in black hoodies run in with guns. There’s screaming as the sound of a gunshot resonates in the air. Billy shields Nancy, being bigger, but then he freezes, staring at a redheaded girl.

“Everybody out!” A boy with black, curly hair tells them. Billy hears a muffled gasp. The staff and people inside don’t hesitate to listen, and they rush out. Mike looks round and sees Nancy and glares at her.

“Can we kill her now?!” The redheaded girl asks. “She’s going to blow our whole operation!”

There’s a moment of silence, then Jonathan rushes in and tackles one of them to the ground. The boy yelps in pain and surprise. The others wheel around to face whoever it was. Steve runs in, also yelling, and held a baseball bat aloft.

Billy seized the moment and ran towards the redheaded girl – his _sister_ , _Max –_ and tackles her. He’s taken by surprise when she throws him off her. She grabs her gun and aims it at his head. Everything seems to stop, the only thing he can hear is his own breathing. Max looks down at him with cold bright blue eyes, filled with loneliness and anger. Billy must have looked at her with pity, or sadness, because she grits her teeth and pushes the gun further in his face.

“Can we kill them?” She asked, voice completely earnest. Billy can feel his heart shatter.

“Let him go, Five.” Mike – Well, the black-haired boy, he’s not sure if it’s him – says. He feels his heart drop at the name. Steve, Nancy and Jonathan have the same expression as him.

“You’re one to talk, One.” She replies, gesturing to him holding Steve at gunpoint. Mike, or One, or whatever his name was, lowers his gun.

“One…? Five…?” Jonathan stutters. Max curses under her breath (Billy felt his heart fill with unusual pride) and she reaches into her hoodie pocket and brings out a remote that has a big red button on it. The boys all exchange fearful glances, before the Raven-haired boy exclaims “Five, no!”

She presses the button, and there was the sound of an explosion on the roof. The roof of the hotel caving in is Billy’s last thought before blacking out.

The first thing Jonathan registers as he wakes up is the searing pain all over his body. The second, he noted, vaguely surprised, was that he was protecting a younger, smaller boy with a black hoodie on.

He groans, and the younger immediately gets out his arms and stands up, looking down on him; he has a brown bowl cut and hazel eyes. He couldn’t have been older than 13 or so. He seems nervous as he looks down on him.

“I… Uhm, thanks.” The boy awkwardly thanks. Jonathan holds out a hand for the boy to help him up. The boy shakes his hand.

“Two, come on!” A voice calls out from behind the boy. Jonathan’s eyes widened as he panicked. “We’re going!

“Wait!” He grabs the boy’s hand. The boy’s eyes widened as Jonathan stands up, snatches the boy’s gun and aims it at him. “Y-You’re gonna stay here. Put your hands up, please…”

The boy, trembling, slowly put his hands behind his head. One of the boys, a black boy, came over. “Two! What’s–”

The other boy’s eyes widen as he surveys the scene. Jonathan feels a pang of guilt, but it was very quickly replaced by fear as the new boy proceeds to aim a gun at his head.

Jonathan hears footsteps behind him and panics for a brief moment, his heart beating hard in his ears, before he realizes it was Steve, Billy and Nancy. They each have guns of their own. 3 other figures with black hoodies come up behind the other kid.

“Three, they stole our guns, god damnit!” a boy with curly hair swears. Steve’s eyes widen beside him and he started shaking, and Jonathan _knows_ it was Steve’s brother.

“Guys, just leave!” Two (aka bowl cut hair kid) says. “Papa said ‘If one of you is caught, get away’!”

The raven-haired boy, One, starts shaking.

“One…” one of the boys says quietly.

“No.” One says firmly, then he shouts. “NO! I’m not leaving! Get off of me, Four! Get off!”

The curly haired kid, _Four_ , had grabbed him, and was currently trying to drag him away from the scene, soothing him. The boy that pulled his gun on them gave Two a grim but determined expression that held a clear message: _We’ll come back for you._ He then runs off, helping his curly haired friend soothe One.

The teenagers turn back to the kid. Jonathan feels sorry for him, another pang of guilt hitting his chest, seeing how dead terrified he looked. Then police sirens rings through. Steve colorfully swears under his breath and grabs the boy. Together, they all run towards Steve’s fancy car. They stuff the boy inside and drove off.

With a _hostage_.

Meanwhile, the 4 kids walk to the campervan, with three of the four trying to comfort their somewhat of a leader. The girl, who was slightly in front, freezes. The rest stare at her, confused, before looking up and freezing too.

“You’ve done a poor job today. I expected better. We’ll just have to move the training to here.”


	7. The saddest friend reunion in the history of reunions.

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

_The saddest friend reunion in the history of reunions._

They drove to the Harrington house, running down into the basement. The staff didn’t really seem to care that they were carrying a preteen boy.

“Okay.” Jonathan says once they’ve finished tying the boy up. He’s sat down on the chair opposite Two. “We’re just gonna ask you some questions.”

No response. Jonathan glances around at Nancy and Steve who were behind him (Billy was upstairs, keeping a lookout). He gives them a nervous glance then looks firmly back at the boy.

“Who is Papa?” asks Jonathan. The moment he mentions the name Two looks up at him, terrified. He looks around nervously, twitching slightly. Jonathan and Steve exchanged fearful glances.

“Okay, you don’t like him.” Jonathan guessed. “Easier question, your name’s Two, right?”

Two observes him for a second, then nods slightly.

“Okay, well, we won’t call you Two.” Nancy reassures him. Two gives her a slightly confused look, like he didn’t know what she was talking about. “Who’s sibling is he?”

Steve shrugs, “Not mine. Mine’s got really curly brown hair. Billy’s sister is a girl and a redhead, and Nancy already met Mike, so this must be…”

All their eyes widen in realization as Jonathan’s heart is stuck in his throat. Tears collect in his eyes, and he’s now seeing the similarities between both of them; the same slightly distrustful expression, the same lively brown eyes, even the way he moved was similar.

“Will.” Jonathan croaks out. Two – _Will_ – looked at him confusedly.

“Who’s Will?” Will asks curiously. Jonathan gasps and hugs him, and sobs. He never stopped believing that he was out there, not really. He only gave up looking for him after his mother started becoming too stressed to work.

Jonathan breaks the one-sided embrace and looks at him. “It’s me. Jonathan. I’m your brother.”

“What’s a… What’s a brother?” Will asks. There are two gasps from behind Jonathan, but his heart is too broken to register it. His ears must have failed him. “I’m s-sorry, but I don’t know you.”

“Me, Jonathan! Your brother! Please, you…” He trails off, hitting a realization. “You were only five.”

“Five? Is she here?” Will asked excitedly. His eyes shone.

“Fraid not, buddy.” Jonathan tells him. Will’s eyes look relieved but sad at the same time. “A…A brother is someone who you share your mom and dad with.”

Will looks frightened, so Jonathan quickly adds, “Not Papa. Mom and Dad.”

Will still looks hesitant, so Nancy tells him, “We can’t help your friends if you don’t tell us anything. Please.”

He still looks at them slightly uncertainly, and then, “Papa is our… dad? He raises us. He teaches us things.”

“What kind of things?” Steve asks, Jonathan almost jumps out of his seat in surprise. He’d forgotten Steve was there.

“Fighting.” Will tells them matter-of-factly. The three teens exchange glances.

“For… How long?” Nancy asks him nervously.

“Since we started there.”

“So ever since you were five years old. And I thought _my_ childhood was fucked up.” Billy says. The rest all jump and turn to stare at him. Steve looks at him angrily.

“You were supposed to keep guard!” He hisses.

“No-one was coming, Harrington. Calm the fuck down.” Billy tells him. “Move over, Byers.”

He shoves Jonathan off the chair and sits down. Nancy glares at Billy as she helps her boyfriend up.

Billy looks at the young Byers kid and sighs.

“Hey, kid.” he says in a comforting voice that Jonathan’s never heard before. He exchanged startled glances between the other two teenagers, who had similar expressions. “I’m Billy. Billy Hargrove. I would shake your hand, but it looks like you might bolt any second now… Anyway, we’d like to know about your friends. They seem really _nice_ so we’d love to meet them, but we need to know about them first.”

Will looked hesitant. “Well, there’s One. He’s our kind of leader, though Five is the strongest.”

“Who’s One again?”

“Mike. Wheeler boy.”

“Oh, yeah. Black-hair kid. Five, who is he again?”

“She. She’s the strongest and she h-has red hair and b-b-blue eyes.” Will stutters. Jonathan sees Billy’s breath catch in his throat.

“And… There are two more? What are they like?” Billy finally asks.

Will looked uncomfortable, “Well, there’s T-Three, who’s got dark skin and dark eyes, and Four who didn’t have all his teeth, and he has curly hair.”

“Dustin…” Steve says quietly, barely loud enough for Jonathan to hear.

“Stop calling them that! He’s Four. Five is Five. Three is Three. One is One. I am Two!” He yells, and the rest look at him surprisedly. Jonathan grabs his hand, and the boy calms down slightly and looks back at him confusedly.

“Will. Will Byers. That’s your name.” Jonathan tells him. “When you were five years old, you went missing. After like, a year, the police assumed you and your siblings, your _friends_ , as dead. Me and our mom never stopped believing that you were dead. I only stopped looking when Mom got too stressed to work or anything. I reunited with Nancy and we both got a job at the Daily Bugle.”

Will closed his eyes, then opens them again. “I vaguely remember… someone that wasn’t Papa or One taking care of me. Brown hair.”

Jonathan probably looked pathetic, but he didn’t care. He leaned up and hugged him. Will started crying too, seemingly starting to remember him.

“Jonathan.” He chokes out. “Jonathan.”

Jonathan sobs harder, smiling uncontrollably. Nancy, smiling, goes over to the back of the chair and undoes the knots on Will’s hands.

Will jumps into his older brother’s arms, holding each other tighter by the second. Billy smiles again, but then his face hardens as he remembers the distinct coldness that had replaced the lively warmth in Max’s eyes. Billy clears his throat, getting the attention of everyone there.

“Will.” He says. The boy flinches, and he immediately regrets having a harsh tone. He softens his voice. “I’m Five’s older brother. Her name is Max, and I need to see her again as a little sister. Please, tell me where your base of operations is.”

Will smiles at him, then there’s an explosion in the house. Steve looks at Billy accusingly.

“I thought you said there wasn’t anyone coming!” He yells. Will holds onto Jonathan, flinching at the sound of yelling. Jonathan picks him up, holding tightly against his body.

“I _thought_ there wasn’t!” Billy yells back. There’s another explosion as the sound of guns loading comes from the hall.

“Shit.” Nancy says, grabbing a revolver. Billy grabs a shotgun and Steve gets his baseball bat. Will flinches at both of them, but grabs his knife from his thigh sheath.

 _Jesus Christ, where else does my brother have knives?_ Jonathan thinks, but he says out loud, “Can I have a knife too? I won’t hurt your friends, I promise. It’s just to look tough.”

Will nodded, a sympathetic look on his face as he handed him another knife from his other thigh sheath. He looks at it: it looks like a classic assassin’s knife, with a special design on it: 0002. It’s extremely sharp, and it could easily cut through wood. Jonathan gives his brother a surprised glance before turning to the door.

The redheaded girl – what was her name again? Max, right? – ran in, two knives in her hands and a small assault rifle on her chest. She looks at them all warily, _angrily_ before her gaze settles on Will.

“Two.” She says carefully. She turns to the door, “He’s Here!” She shouts to it. “Two is here!”

Nancy swears and grabs Max’s wrist, ready to disarm her, but Max is faster. She slashes at Nancy’s chest, barely missing. Nancy doesn’t seem to want to grab a gun and aim it at her. Jonathan doesn’t blame her. He wouldn’t either.

But if someone didn’t, Nancy would definitely get badly hurt, maybe even… she might even die…

Before Jonathan can act, Will runs forward and puts his knife to Max’s chest. “Five. Stop.”

Three other boys run in; Mike, Dustin and Lucas. They all stare at the scene, and none of them bring out weapons, though Lucas’ hand strays towards his knife sheath.

Max stares at Will, hurt evident in her eyes.

“Five, d-drop the knife.” Will orders, his voice louder than it had been during the whole interrogation. Max does so, dropping the knife and not wanting to hurt her friend, it seemed.

“Two, what are you—” Will looked _angry_. His nostrils flared slightly, and his lip curled slightly.

“My name is WILL!” he shouted, making Max exaggeratedly startle and fall down in surprise and maybe, just _maybe_ , it was also from fear. He could tell Will instantly regretted yelling, but he still stood strong.

Max was trembling, shivering, more than the boys were, and that was saying something. Her pupils dilated, showing the light blue even better. Her shoulders started heaving up and down, and Lucas looked at her in worry, wanting to go forward but not wanting to get hurt.

Will looked at her concernedly as she covers her ears with her hands.

“She’s having an anxiety attack. Oh, shit, shit, shit!” Dustin says, starting to yell. “Put down the weapon, Will, it’s reminding her of him, of Papa! He always trained her hardest, put it down!”

Will, now looking at his knife terrified, yelps and lets go of it like it had burned him. Max’s breathing didn’t ease, though her muscles relaxed slightly. Lucas looks at Will uncertainly.

“May I?” He asks politely. Will nods, walking behind Jonathan and taking cover behind him. Lucas walks forward and puts his arm on Max’s shoulder. He hands her something that Jonathan, nor the rest, can see. He squints to see it, but can’t. It makes Max calm down enough so that she takes her hands off her ears.

Will walks out from behind Jonathan, and sends an apologetic look to Max, before picking his weapon up again.

One looks at him disbelievingly. He looks at the adults accusatory, like it was their fault Will was on their side.

“T- Sorry, Will, what are you doing?” he asks quietly. Will steps forward and sighs, taking his hoodie off, then his bulletproof vest that was on a white t-shirt. 

_Jesus… This ‘Papa’ must have prepared them for anything,_ Jonathan thinks. He glances at the rest, knowing they were thinking along the same lines.

“My name is Will Byers. And this is my brother, Jonathan.” He gestures to Jonathan, who feels the need to wave for some reason.

There’s a moment of silence, before Five’s face hardens.

“I thought _we_ were your siblings.” She says coldly. He sees Billy’s jaw clench. Will looks at them panicked.

“No, no, you are! It’s just, Jonathan’s my b... bio… bio...” Will stutters.

“Biological sibling. You two are his non-biological siblings. Me and Will share the same mom.” Jonathan explains to them, but it didn’t seem to help. Mike’s face hardens, as does Dustin’s and Jonathans.

“So, you’ve got a new family. You’ve forgotten about us.” Mike’s voice breaks, and Jonathan is alarmed to see tears in each of their eyes. Will shoots a panicked look at the teenagers before looking back at them.

“No, no! I swear! I can never forget your…” Will trails off and watches as Dustin pulls his hood up and walks out. Lucas does the same.

“Guess you’ve chosen your side.” Max says, before grabbing Mike’s hand and gesturing him out. Mike gave Will a hurt, accusatory, hopeless look, and Jonathan realized how _young_ they were. No 13-year-old should have to endure this feeling of betrayal. Max threw a knife at Will’s right lower leg. He cries out in pain and falls down.

“Will!” Jonathan yells, feeling his heart beat and fall at the same time, thumping in his ears, and rushes over to him. Billy is the only one that doesn’t come over at first. He watches them go, before rushing to Will’s aid.


	8. Will gets one heck of a boo-boo.

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

_Will gets one heck of a boo-boo._

Jonathan sits him down in the Harrington infirmary, Will had started crying long ago, but before the tears were less of pain and more of the guilt and hurt from losing his friends.

Will had caused a panic attack, a panic attack from their strongest member, just by pointing his knife at her. He knew she got trained harder, but to break down because a weapon being pointed at you? Even he didn’t have a panic attack because of that.

Still, though, the guilt was starting to subside because of the pain, and, with a jolt, he realizes and processes that the knife is stuck in his leg. He looks at it and almost throws up; Five – _Max_ – had thrown it in pretty deep, and he now felt the stabbing pain, every instinct wanting it to come out immediately.

“Will, we need you to calm down, buddy!” Steve tells him. Will wants to calm down too, but his tears and screams don’t stop.

“Shh…” Jonathan whispers in his ear. “I’m here. I won’t ever lose you again. You won’t lose me again. I’m here…”

His voice was so calm, so… so _there,_ that Will stopped screaming. Jonathan hugged him, but accidently touched the knife, which made it move, which made Will whimper in pain.

 _Shit_. He thought. _Not supposed to show weakness…_

Jonathan let go slightly to get up and look at him in his eyes. Will was startled to see that Jonathan was worried for him, _concerned_ for him. Papa never was. He always looked at them as they writhed in pain on the floor in a cold way, not even caring. He had told them it was to make them stronger, but Will wasn’t strong.

Will was brought out of his train of thought when Nancy says some alarming words.

“We’re gonna have to take the knife out.” She tells Steve. Steve’s eyes widen and Will looks up to see that Steve and Nancy have gloves on, while Billy was wincing, looking at the wound.

“Yeah, there’s nothing else you can really do.” Billy supplies. Steve sighs, giving a sympathetic look towards Will before stepping back to give Nancy some space. Jonathan grabbed Will’s face.

“Don’t look at them, Will. Look at me, focus on me. Let’s talk.” Jonathan says, bringing a chair next to him so he can sit next to him. Will forces himself to look at him, ignoring Nancy prepping herself to do something that a doctor would usually do.

“Once this whole thing is finished, and all of your friends reunite with their siblings and you again, I’m gonna reintroduce you to Mom.” Jonathan reassures him.

Will nodded, shutting his eyes. Then, quietly, he said, “I’m sorry.”

“What? It’s not your fault Max—” Jonathan starts. Will wants to tell him the truth, so he cuts him off.

“I’ve… been… I’ve been stabbed before. Didn’t hurt this much.” Will explains, straining to speak. Everyone freezes. Even Nancy, who was now attempting to get the knife out his leg.

“Who stabbed you.” Jonathan asks, his voice quiet and dark. Dangerous. He recognizes it from Papa when he disapproved of something they did.

“It was j-just for a practice, don’t worry… A guard… I k-killed him.” He says, voice breaking near the end in regret. Jonathan pats him on the head, then grabs his hand and looks to Nancy, nodding. She nods back and grabs the knife.

“W-What’s mom like, brother?” Will asks, steering the conversation away from that topic. Jonathan looks surprised at the change, but then he smiles.

“Well, she’s nice. So nice. She always helped me with my homework before, and she was divorced, so she had to work to provide for both of us… Until… Anyway! She’s really hardworking but always spends time with me, even now! She’ll like you so much…” Jonathan says, holding his hands when Will grits his teeth.

Will gasps as he feels the knife leave his leg. Then, he feels a large amount of pressure on it, with a hint of cold too. It’s started feeling numb as Steve puts something that looks like see-through jam on it.

Jonathan continues rambling, close to his ear. “I’ve got this therapist; she talks to me and she’s really nice. I think she’ll really like you, and you can talk to her about all your problems and worries, and she can even give you medication sometimes.”

Will lets out a scream as Nancy puts something in the wound that makes it sting hard.

“Shit! Sorry, Will! I should’ve warned you it’d hurt!” Nancy yells above the noise. Will tries to pull his leg back, but Nancy pulls it back towards her.

Will starts crying again from pain, and stress, and just… _everything_. Jonathan squeezes his hand. “Do you have hobbies? Do you like doing anything, like, singing or drawing?”

“I-I like to d-draw!” Will says, his voice rising and shaking near the end as Nancy covered the wound in a big plaster, then a bandage. Steve shouts something to Nancy, and she yells something back, and Jonathan squeezes his hand to get his attention again.

“Cool! I like to make mixtapes and stuff like that, and I also listen to music. Do you like music?” Will barely manages to nod, panic rising in his chest. “Cool! Uh, well… Ooh! Maybe you’d like school!”

“S-School?” Will asks, realizing something. “Fighting?”

Jonathan looked aghast. “No! No, not fighting. You learn stuff like, math, you know, division and stuff like that. And there’s also, uh, stuff like geography, where they teach you about the world and stuff…”

Will notices that his voice becomes less urgent and more excited to say stuff like this. Will looks down at his lower leg to see it wrapped up from the ankle to the knee. The pain was still there, but it only there subtly.

“…they teach you stuff about physical education, and also recycling and stuff like that.” Jonathan finishes. Will hadn’t heard half of what he said, but he was too relieved and tired to process it.

He passed out.


	9. Second Time Kidnapping Preteens. Wow.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ngl not sure where I was going with this tbh

**CHAPTER NINE**

_Second Time Kidnapping Preteens. Wow._

Steve was sitting at a table that had been set up about a minute after Will had passed out.

“Dustin… Can you believe this?” He turns to the teenagers. Jonathan was looking at Will intently, or at least he was before he turns his chair round to face him. Nancy looks up from her files. Billy doesn’t bother looking up.

“You heard what shit he said. He had to… Jesus Christ, he had to survive stab wounds.” Steve runs his hands through his hair, trying his best to reassure himself. “All of them did, and _fuck_ , he said that Max had it worst.”

Billy’s knuckles were turning white from how hard he was clutching his chair. He grits his teeth. He suddenly gets up and flips a table over.

“Shh!” Jonathan puts a finger over his mouth and gestures to Will. Billy’s shoulders go up and down like a machine. He sits back down, his face in his hands. He mutters a string of curse words before looking back up at Will. His knuckles turn white again.

“We need to make sure none of them go through that… shit again. Let’s make a conspiracy board. Byers, Harrington, you can stay here.” He tells them. Steve nods, running his fingers over Will’s arm. The two of them walk out, already planning it.

Steve sees Jonathan glance at him in the corner of his eye, but they both stay silent.

There’s an unspoken conversation between them that they both wish they could say out loud. About how Steve feels about Jonathan and Nancy’s relationship, how Jonathan feels about Steve, especially when Steve used to bully him. They hope one day they feel comfortable with one another to do it, but for now, the room’s filled with silence, apart from Will’s steady breathing.

They turn around at the sound of footsteps and see Nancy and Billy coming in with a conspiracy board. There’s nothing on it so far, but Steve sees a bunch of papers in her pocket, so he knows a presentation is coming up.

Will groans, and Jonathan’s head turns so fast towards him that Steve should be worried for his health. Will shakes his head and looks towards them sadly.

“It wasn’t a dream… My family did leave me…” Will says in a voice that’s somehow both matter-of-factly and sad. Jonathan looks at him reassuringly.

“Don’t worry. Nancy’s, oh, she’s shushing me, let’s get ready for this presentation.” He says, turning towards Nancy and Billy with the conspiracy board that doesn’t have anything on it quite yet. Nancy puts a photo on it. Underneath in large letters it says: L.S ALLEY.

“The first attack happened in a place that not everyone knows about but the people who do know about it frequent. The next place was Knockdown Square,” She put a picture of the NSQR painting on the board. “where plenty of parents could see it. At first, I didn’t connect the dots since well, it was only the second attack, but after Central Park…” She put a picture of firemen attempting to save the park. Will winced.

“Sorry.” He muttered. Nancy smiled at him, her ‘It-really-damn-hurt-but-I-forgive-you’ kind of smile. He nodded at her, starting to blush. Nancy cleared her throat and put a news article on the wall of the politician’s death.

“This happened to a high-up man. Who did it, Will? Max, or Lucas? Or Dustin? Or...” Her voice faltered slightly. “Or Mike?”

“Five- I mean Max, did it.” He confessed. Billy’s face darkens, and he nods at Nancy to continue. Nancy puts a picture of Max and Billy on the wall, where Max is five years old and unites it to the article with string.

“Right, so, we know it’s not government-funded, since the White House was sprayed 40 years ago.” She puts a piece of paper that said ‘NOT GOVERNMENT-FUNDED’ on the board. Then she puts pictures of 5-year-old Dustin, Mike and Will on the board, and writes ‘not-with-us’ on the bottom of Dustin, Max, Lucas and Mike’s photos, and writes ‘with us’ on Will’s. He nods.

“Now, here’s where you come in, Little Byers. Who’s leading it?” Billy asks. Will looks around the room nervously, as if some kind of enemy is listening in.

“Papa.” He whispers, Billy looks down at his watch. Steve, Nancy and Jonathan shared a look.

“Do you know Papa’s name?” Nancy asked him. Will whimpered and shook his head.

“Right, so, mysterious ‘Papa’…” Nancy wrote something down and put it right in the middle of the conspiracy board, linking it with everything else. It had ‘WHO IS “PAPA”?’ hastily scribbled on it. “Right, so I think that’s everything. Wait…”

Nancy turned to Will. “Do you the plan? How we can stop your siblings from causing any more pain?”

Will nodded eagerly, opening his mouth, but just as he was about to say something, the roof caved in.

Nancy wakes up to her being protected by a fallen bookcase. She’s now thankful that the Harringtons have so much furniture.

_Jesus, this is the second explosion I’ve been in in a week._

“Alright, check their IDs. If they know anything, Papa will absolutely have their heads.” Nancy lets out a muffled gasp. Mike. That meant the others were there too. Shit, shit, shit.

She feels Dustin’s arms around her jean pockets, checking for her driving license or something similar. He finally finds it in her right jean pocket.

“Steve Harrington.” Max reads out from the other side of the room. “Born in the year 2000, April 24th.”

“Nancy Wheeler. Born 2001, January 13th.” Dustin reads out, standing next to her. Her heart beats faster and drums in her ears.

“Jonathan Byers. Born February 6th, 2001.” Mike reads out. “Alright, that’s, oh, never mind. Three, go look at that boy’s one.”

She hears footsteps and opens one of her eyes ever so slightly. Billy was unconscious, and Lucas approaching him. A flare of panic broke through her chest; were they going to take their IDs?

Just as she finishes that thought, she sees Lucas bend down to grab Billy’s ID and he quickly gets put in a chokehold by Billy. Nancy internally swears and grabs Dustin, who was getting ready to rush to his side, and also puts him in a chokehold. She feels her chest for her revolver, and was relieved to see that hers was still there. She puts it to the side of his head, absolutely not intending to use it.

Max, who’d been next to Steve the whole time, was running towards her at a high speed, but then she stopped abruptly.

It takes Nancy a second to realize that there was a knife at the girl’s neck, a knife with the number 0002 on it.

Mike stares at them all in fear. “D-Don’t hurt them.” His voice breaks and Nancy’s heart breaks.

“Put your weapons on the ground, Mike.” She tells him, trying her best to keep a calm façade. Mike, though looking surprised at the name, puts his weapons on the floor and putting his arms behind his head. Max does the same.

“Now, I want you to turn around and walk to the wall. And keep your hands behind your heads!” She tells them. Will takes the knife away from Max’s throat, and she slowly walks towards the wall with Mike, both of their hands behind their heads.

“Okay… Well, we’re going to go the basement since above here is destroyed, and we’re gonna lock the door, then Will’s go back to you both and take away any weapons you might have. You’re not gonna do anything to stop it. You’re gonna stay calm.” Nancy tells them. They both nod, and Nancy looks over at Billy and nods at him, and they start walking, crab-style, to the basement, with Max and Mike in front of them. Jonathan carries Steve, while Nancy and Billy keep their respective hostages in the chokeholds.

They walk downstairs where Jonathan sets Steve on the bed.

“Alright, so, I hate to do this, but get on your knees. Jonathan, tie them to that pole there.” She tells him. Max and Mike obediently do so. Jonathan looks over at the pipe and gives her a nod, tying them to the pipe with many knots. Nancy walks over and tries to imitate him with Dustin, but fails miserably and lets him do it. Billy does his with a slightly weaker knot.

Jonathan sighs. “Right, we’ve kidnapped four preteens. Oh my god, we’ve kidnapped three preteens."


	10. -, 2, 3, 4, -

The kids all stubbornly refuse to say anything, even when tied to pipes. The only reaction they ever got from them was a flinch when they said the word _Papa_.

Will stayed close to his brother, holding his hand, but he never met anyone’s eyes, staring at the cracks in the floor.

“Okay.” Steve said for the millionth time. “Look, we’re your _siblings_ , we’re _family._ ”

Mike spat. “Tell that to Will.”

Will flinched like he’d been shot, and hid himself in Jonathan’s chest. Jonathan glared at Mike, but Steve  clapped his hands  loudly , not wanting a fight.

“Hey, hey! Listen up, shitheads! Yes, even you two.” He glanced over at Nancy at Billy. Nancy blinked in surprise, but Billy hardly looked up. “This clearly isn’t gonna work. We have to-”

“THIS IS POLICE, PUT YOUR HANDS UP.”

“Oh shit.” Nancy said. Jonathan stood protectively over Will, who sat in a corner shaking.

There was silence, before a policeman kicked the door open. He had a beard and blue eyes, and his tag read _Jim_ _Hopper_

He surveyed the scene.

“You’ve got to be shitting me.” He said, gun still held aloft.

“Look, Mr. Hopper. It’s really complicated, and-” Hopper aimed his gun at Nancy.

“Don’t move. You are going under arrest for Child Kidnapping.” He blinked at all of them. “Was it you who caused that explosion.”

“No, just let us tell the story.” Steve said, stepping backwards slightly, while Billy stepped forward, his eyes on the gun, getting in a defensive stance.

Steve blurted out the entire story, Nancy and Jonathan interjecting where they had to and Billy looking like he wanted to die.

Hopper looked between them all. The kids attached to the pipes were frozen, staring at Steve in awe, but then Mike hissed at them.

Hopper pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed wearily, like this wasn’t the strangest thing to happen that day.

“Okay, okay, okay. You’re telling me that _these kids_ ,” He looked over at the kids. They all blinked at him, “were kidnapped, what, 8 years ago?” He looked over at Steve, who made a see-saw motion with his hand. “And then they were raised by this guy, _‘Papa’-_ ” All the kids flinched at once and in sync, “who made them into military soldiers from the age of 5 and then brought them to fuck up the government?”

Nancy shrugged. “More or less, yeah.”

Hopper hid his face in his hands, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” He muttered. “Okay, I’m gonna call the police and let the government handle this-”  
  


“No!” All the teenagers shouted at once, Billy getting into a defensive position again.

Hopper looked at all of them. “I can’t just-”

At that exact moment, however,  Dustin leaps up at him, pushing him against the wall. The rest of the kids run from the room, their binds apparently undone. Dustin punched him in the jaw before running after them. Steve and the rest tried to follow, but  _damn_ , these kids were fast.

“Dammit.” Steve panted.

“Shit.” Nancy agreed.

“Fucking hell.” Hopper noted.

“Can we stop swearing in front of Will?” Jonathan asked.

Will looked to the ground, then back up at Jonathan.

“I’ll go after them.” He decided. “I know where their base is, and I’m fast. Faster than any of you.”

“I highly disagree-” Billy started, but Nancy, Hopper and Steve gave them a glare so intimidating he shut up.

Jonathan turned pale. “No, bud, I just got you back. I can’t-”

He swallowed. “I can’t lose you again.”

Will smiled at him. “You won’t. Trust me.”

Jonathan looked like he wanted to argue, but then closed his mouth and hugged Will. Will hugged him fiercely back. Steve’s throat closed up. He saw the raw love and emotion in that embrace, and missed Dustin so much at that moment.

“Stay safe.” Jonathan warned. Will nodded, then ran in the direction the kids went.

When Will became nothing else but a speck in the distance, Hopper turned to them.

“Okay, I’m going to tell the authorities about all,” he gestured vaguely at everyone, “this.”

“Heck no you are not.” Steve said, then remembered that he could swear now that Will wasn’t there.

“Why not?” Hopper asked them, glaring fiercely at them, Steve in particular.

“Because we don’t want them arrested.” Nancy said firmly.

Billy nodded in agreement. “If we tell the authorities, they’ll arrest them.”

“Or worse.” Steve supplied. Everyone turned to him. “I mean, they could keep them as like, mega-soldiers, right? They’re just kids, they don’t know any better.”

“Thank you, Steve.” Nancy glared over at him.

“Please, Chief.” Jonathan pleaded. Hopper looked at all of them, then sighed.

“Fine. But I am going to stay _with you._ You need at least one adult on this mission, or whatever you wanna call it.” He said. The rest of sighed in relief and annoyance. “The kid better be back by nightfall, and if he’s not, I’m telling the authorities.”

* * *

  
Steve watched as Nancy failed to reach the bag of chips. As both Nancy and the chips fell of the wall, Billy muttered, “Hurricane Katrina?”

“More like Hurricane Tortilla.” Steve finished.

* * *

“Ow! What the-” Billy cursed. Steve looked down at the floor to see something green.

“It’s an avocado!” Nancy yelled from the top of the fridge. How she had gotten up there, Steve had no idea. “Thaaanks!”  
  


* * *

  
“This house is a FUCKING NIGHTMARE!” Hopper yelled. Steve and the rest of the teenagers burst out laughing, while Hopper stared at them confusedly.

* * *

Nightfall arrived, and Will _still_ wasn’t back.

“It couldn’t have been that far, right?” Steve asked nervously.

“That’s it, I’m calling the police.” Said Hopper. Jonathan got up suddenly, then smiled as tears collected in his eyes.

He ran out. Knowing this could only mean one thing, the rest ran out too.

Will ran into Jonathan’s arms, and Steve smiled faintly at the scene. Then his gaze went to the curly-haired boy next to him.

“Dustin...” He choked down a sob, remembering the little 5-year-old, then walked forwards and hugged him. Dustin seemed surprised at first, as if he hadn’t been hugged in forever, but then hugged back. “Bud, I thought I lost you.”

Dustin’s eyes were filled with tears.

“Two- I mean, Will, I saw him hiding out in the bushes. I wanted to hurt him, but he asked me to hear him out.” He admitted. “He told me everything. S.. Steve? That’s your name, right? My brother?”

“Yeah, bud.” He hugged him again, this time tighter. Another voice cleared his throat, and he looked around to see a black-skinned boy. Who..?

He looked awkward, with dark brown eyes staring back up at him. 

“This is Three.” Dustin announced.

“No, what was your name..” Billy clicked his fingers, trying to remember. “Sinclair! It was Lucas, Lucas Sinclair, right?”

Three – or, Lucas – shrugged uncomfortably. 

“Well, that’s what we’ll call you.” Nancy promised. “Lucas. It fits you.”

Lucas blushed and nodded quickly. 

“Dustin knew that Three – I, I mean, Lucas, sorry – was on patrol duty or something like that as well, so we convinced him to help.” Will said.

  
“And that took you the whole day?” Hopper asked skeptically. Will shook his head.

“No. Ran into One and – wait, what are their names?” Dustin asked them, looking up. Billy and Nancy visibly straightened.

“Mike and Max.” Nancy managed to choke out.

“Yeah, well, we ran into them.” Lucas finished, and gestured to his cheek, which, now that Steve looked at it, he noticed that there was a small scar on his cheek. Dustin showed Steve his arm, which had a small, roundish scar – like something had narrowly missed him. _A gun._

Will had come out unscathed, but he looked deeply troubled, and held on to Jonathan for comfort.

“Sibling?” Lucas asked, looking up at Billy. Billy looked startled and stepped back.

“W-What? No, I’m- Max, the redhead- she’s my sister.” He explained. Lucas looked back at the rest, and they shook their heads.

  
Lucas clenched his fist. “I came back for nothing.”

“Not for nothing, kid.” Said Steve. “I’ll look after you until we find your family, okay?”

Lucas beamed up at him, then envel oped him in a hug. Steve smiled down at the boy, then picked both Dustin and Lucas up.  
  
  
"Okay, enough with the feels. We need as much information as possible." Hopper told them.


End file.
